Tuesday, July 8, 2014

My Yoke is Easy

14th Sunday
in Ordinary Time

After
celebrating the three great feasts, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus
Christi, that bring the Easter season to its conclusion, we now enter again
into what the Church calls Ordinary time. Ordinary time refers to that time of
the Church year that is not associated with Christmas or Easter. During
Ordinary time the priest will usually wear vestments of green, the color of
hope. In a way these Sundays after Easter will give us an idea of what the
Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus means for us.

In
today’s first reading from the Book of Zechariah the prophet speaks of a day
when the burdens laid on people by their oppressors will be lifted.

He
shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,

And the horse from Jerusalem;

The warrior’s bow shall be banished,

and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.

Chariots,
horses, the warriors bow are instruments of oppression and military conquest.
The overlords of the people often put heaven burdens on their subjects. Even
today on the Fourth of July we celebrate our own Declaration of Independence
whereby our founding fathers through off the yoke of British oppression.

However,
even though we live in the freest country in the World, there is a kind of
oppression or burden that hits very close to home. So many of us have had a
yoke placed upon our shoulders by our friends and family. Indeed, sometimes we
are the ones who have placed the burden on our own shoulders.

I
will never forget an incident that occurred years ago when I was a financial
advisor. I visited an elderly couple in their home one evening to look over
their finances. The man sat stopped over the kitchen table after his long
commute home. The train ride to New York City took over an hour each way, but
then he had to take a subway, and then walk a few blocks to his office. He
hated the long commute and was sick of his job, which he had been doing for
years.

After
looking over the financial situation, I told them that there was no reason for
him to continue working. They lived very frugally, and the income from their
savings and investments was more than enough for them to retire comfortably. I
was amazed when the man slowly raised his head and shoulders as if a great
burden had been lifted. This miracle was not my doing but theirs. They had
worked hard but just didn’t realize how well they had done.

It’s
the same thing with most of us. I’m not just talking about finances now. Why do
teenagers seem to be so gloomy and depressed? Why is there such addiction among
young people? Why is there such a high rate of teen suicide? Why, in the years
when they should feel the most free, do young people have to say what their
friends want to hear; have to follow peer pressure and do what their friends
want them to do? Why do they feel that they must smoke this, or drink that in
order to be socially acceptable?

As
we get older the burdens seem to get even greater. We all know the stress of
family relationships, job insecurity, raising children, or caring for aged
parents. Half the country seems to be on some sort of medication, legal or
illegal, to relieve the burdens. Who is there to lift the yoke from our backs.

Here
is a good way to tell a true from a false friend. A true friend helps us to
bear life’s burdens; a false one just piles more weight on our backs. In fact,
the good friend is the one who actually lightens the load by sharing it with
us. In today’s gospel Jesus is trying to make us realize that our burdens have
been lifted.

Come
to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

And
I will give you rest.

Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me,

For
I am meek and humble of heart;…

For
my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Christ
suffered so that we would not have to. He told us to be humble and not proud;
to care for our neighbor instead of always thinking of ourselves. He was always
healing people. Did he ever hurt anyone? Jesus continually criticized the
Pharisees for their rules and regulations that put innumerable burdens on
people.

St.
Paul was born and raised a Pharisee. In fact, he said he was a kind of super-Pharisee
who followed all rules to their minutest detail. After his conversion, however,
he realized that that to living in the Spirit and not in the flesh was the road
to happiness.

For
if you live according to the flesh, you will die,

But
if by the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body,

You
will live.

Right
before today’s Eucharistic prayer, the priest will ask the congregation to
“lift up your hearts.”